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THE DRAKE MEDAL. 


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BY 

JAMES D. HAGUE. 

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REPRINTED FROM 

Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 

Vol. XL, August, 1908. 







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30 0 ’08 


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The Silver Map. 

From the Numismatic Chronicle 
Fourth Series , Vol. VI. 

















































































































* 


V 




Drake Medal of 


the American Numismatic 
Society. 


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THE DRAKE MEDAL. 


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BY 


JAMES D. HAGUE. 


The Drake Medal* has recently been struck in honour of Sir 
Francis Drake,, famous as the first English circumnavigator of 
the globe, and in commemoration of his first landing upon the 
northwest coast of America in 1579, when, on the 17th day 
of June, he anchored and landed near the 38th parallel of north 
latitude, on the shore of the bay since known by his name, and 
there took possession of the country in the name of Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, calling it, after Old England, “ Nova Albion,” and thus 
founded the New England of the Pacific Coast, more than forty 
years before the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, in 
Massachusetts Bay. 

When Drake thus “discovered” the northwest coast of Amer¬ 
ica, he did not find what he was, perhaps, more earnestly seeking, 
a northeasterly passage, or open sea, by which he might sail from 
the Pacific to the Atlantic, and, so, home to England. If he had 
found the hoped-for channel, or if by any means he could have 
had his own way, he would have gladly circumnavigated the Amer¬ 
ican continent, without continuing his “ world encompassing” ex¬ 
pedition around the globe in the Golden Hinde; and, but for the 
exigencies of his marvellous voyage, which compelled him to repair 
and refit his ship, and, for that purpose, to seek a convenient port 

* This is the third medal of the series issued by the American Numismatic Society designed to 
commemorate most notable events in the history of the country, or persons who have rendered 
distinguished services in the discovery or development of America. 

The first medal of this series was issued (1904) in honour of Americus Vespucius, and to com¬ 
memorate the achievements of the early discoverers on the Atlantic coast of the new continent, to 
which the name “America” was given by the German cartographer Martin Waldseemiiller, in 1507. 

The second medal was issued (1906) in honour of John Paul Jones, and to commemorate the event 
of the removal of his remains from France to America. 




2 


The Drake Medal. 


on the west coast, far to the north, beyond the reach of the out¬ 
raged and revengeful Spaniards, whose treasure-laden galleons he 
had piratically plundered off the west coast of South America, it 
is reasonable to believe that Drake, who was not on a voyage of 
discovery, never would have found occasion to explore the north¬ 
west coast of America, nor ever would have sought a landing-place 
upon that shore. 

To what degree of north latitude did Drake’s exploration actu¬ 
ally reach, and precisely at what point on the coast did he make 
his historic landing, have long been vexed questions, much dis¬ 
cussed in years gone by, and only conclusively determined—cer¬ 
tainly, at least, as to the landing-place—by the thorough researches 
of Professor George Davidson, Ph.D., Sc.D., of the United States 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, as set forth by him in a paper, read 
before the California Historical Society in March, 1889, and pub¬ 
lished by that Society in 1890. 

This valuable contribution to historical record is entitled “Iden¬ 
tification of*Francis Drake’s Anchorage on the Coast of California 
in the Year 1579.” It is a carefully considered statement of 
results derived by Professor Davidson from notes of geographical 
study and observation, gathered during his personal experience 
on the Pacific Coast since 1850. His printed pamphlet contains 
58 pages, with fifteen graphic illustrations, mostly copies of old 
maps or charts, some of them thus made public for the first time.* 
This paper is now practically out of print, as the San Francisco 
fire, in April, 1906, destroyed nearly all of the formerly available 
remainder. The writer is indebted to Professor Davidson for the 
opportunity to review the last and only copy of the paper remain¬ 
ing in his possession, and to draw from it for this present purpose 
the following data. In the beginning of his paper Professor David¬ 
son writes: 

“ WHY THIS PAPER HAS BEEN WRITTEN. 

“During the last few years I have been writing the fourth 
edition of the Coast Pilot of California, Oregon, and Washington, 
and in some of my unofficial hours I have been gathering the notes 
of my geographical experience upon this coast since 1850. 

“I have condensed part of them in a paperf where the par- 

* These illustrations are appended to Mr. Hague’s paper, by kind permission of the California 
Historical Society.— Editor Bulletin. 

t “ An examination of some of the early Voyages of Discovery and Exploration on the North¬ 
west Coast of America, from 1539 to 1603, by Prof. George Davidson, A.M., Ph.D., Assistant U. S. 
Coast and Geodetic Survey. Appendix No. 7 of the Annual Report of the ^Superintendent of the 
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1886.” 



The Drake Medal. 


3 


ticular object I had in view was the identification of the landfalls 
of Cabrillo and Ferrelo. In that research the question of Francis 
Drake’s second anchorage on this Coast naturally presented itself 
for solution ; and the general result is therein stated. 

“In the first two or three years of my work upon the Pacific 
seaboard, with comparatively little experience and a limited 
acquaintance with the early discoveries, I believed that Drake 
entered the Bay of San Francisco. The work upon the different 
editions of the Coast Pilot impelled me to examine the localities 
mentioned by the old Navigators; to weigh carefully their simple 
language, the circumstances attending their descriptions, whether 
they were in detail or in broad generalizations, at what season of 
the year they were made, etc.; and, by endeavouring to put 
myself in their places, to follow their explorations day by day. 

“ I have carefully studied the narratives of Drake’s voyage, and 
the manuscript charts copied from his sketches, or drawn from his 
personal descriptions; have located his first anchorage; know 
every foot of the shore he coasted; have tried to see it with his 
eyes; have sailed the U. S. Coast Survey Brig Fauntleroy over the 
very track he pursued; have conned the shore-line, and the Crest¬ 
line, and the landfall from seaward, under varying conditions of 
weather; have surveyed Bodega Head, and anchored in Bodega 
Bay; have been over every rod of Point Reyes Head several times, 
and have frequently anchored in Drake’s Bay in pleasant weather 
and under stress of weather, even as lately as last year (1886). 
I have visited the South and North Farallones, measured their 
heights, and studied their relation and visibility to the harbour in 
which Drake anchored. 

“ I have also collated some of the narratives of the discoveries 
of the Spaniards with that of Drake. 

“ Long before I had gathered all this information, my early 
judgment was corrected, and I saw the great circumnavigator 
anchored in Drake’s Bay; could almost point out the spot where 
he careened his ship; and to-day there remains not the shadow of 
a doubt in my mind as to the exact locality. 

“Furthermore, when I look over the list of authorities at my 
command, that have given opinions upon the subject, some for 
and some against San Francisco Bay, I fail to note one who was 
personally familiar with the details of all the localities involved; 
with the advantages of Drake’s Bay as a harbour of refuge in any 
storm; with the peculiarities of the seaboard as it appeared to 
Drake when coasting it; with the landfall of Point Reyes Head as 

+ 



4 


The Drake Medal . 


he made it; with the relatively smooth water so soon felt after he 
rounded the western extremity, and the clear indications of shelter 
under its eastern point; and with the impossibility of sailing direct 
to the North Farallones or, even to the Southeast Farallon, from 
the Golden Gate of San Francisco Bay with the prevailing summer 
winds. 

“The publication of the ‘Narrative and Critical History of 
America’,* by Justin Winsor, ol Harvard University Library, giv¬ 
ing in extenso the argument of Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D., 
in favor of San Francisco Bay, has prompted me to bring forward 
my experience and deductions at this time. Dr. Hale has gathered 
a mass of very interesting information upon the subject, and I am 
convinced that he will cheerfully accord me the privilege of appeal¬ 
ing to the same authorities which he has done, in cumulating my 
evidence. He is so accustomed to weigh such matters impartially, 
that I believe I shall satisfy him and Mr. Winsor that my deduc¬ 
tions are correct. 

“With these preliminary remarks I propose the following order 
in my statements: (i) To give a few short extracts from the 
‘Narrations of Drake’s Adventure’ that will recall such incidents 
as bear upon the nature of his voyage, the character of his fellow- 
adventurers, and the discovery of the port of New Albion; (2) the 
name of his ship, and a few words about the principal narrator of 
the voyage; (3) extracts giving a description of the second bay in 
which he anchored upon this coast, and of the adjacent country; 
(4) and the name and latitude of that port from various authorities. 
Then, from my own experience, I give (5) a description of the 
landfall of Drake south of Point Arena, (6) of Point Reyes Head, 
and (7) of the Gulf of the Farallones and Drake’s Bay. To these 
are added (8) the first visits of the Spaniards to Drake’s Bay, and 
(9) the reported traditions of the Nicasio Indians; also, (10) an 
account of various ancient charts which I have consulted. 

“ These descriptive statements naturally embody most of the 
reasons why I believe Drake anchored under the eastern promon¬ 
tory of Point Reyes Head. Without re-enumerating these reasons, 
I state (11) others to show why he did not anchor in Bodega Bay, 
and (12) why he could not have anchored in San Francisco Bay. 

“From the U. S. Coast Survey publications I have drawn up 
the chart from Point Arena to Point San Pedro (No. 1), to exhibit 
the prominence of the notable headland of Point Reyes, lying out- 

*“ Narrative and Critical History of America,” by Justin Winsor. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,. 
Boston and New York, 1886-1888 (Vols. II-VI), 4to. 





The Drake Medal. 


5 


side the general course of the Coast which Drake was following 
with the closest scrutiny. This has never been fairly noticed ; in 
fact, it has been generally ignored. I have given a more extended 
chart of Drake’s Bay, to exhibit the soundings in the approaches 
and at the anchorage; to locate the white cliffs and white sand 
banks from one hundred to three hundred feet high, that, for a 
stretch of six miles, were constantly before his eyes, and to dem¬ 
onstrate that this harbour of refuge is not ‘ the open roadstead ’* 
designated by Dr. Hale. I have presented a photographic view of 
the eastern promontory of Point Reyes Head from the harbour, to 
show that Hondius was justified in placing the representation of an 
islet outside the promontory, although his location is erroneous. 
Another equally striking view, taken when the harbour is ap¬ 
proached from the southwest, has not been reduced. I present 
also the charts of Dudley, from photographs of the original manu¬ 
scripts, to show the coast mountains as landfalls, and the soundings 
in the approaches and anchorage of Drake’s Harbour. To these 
are added copies from Dudley’s charts in the ‘ Arcano del Mare ’; 
from Hondius, Vizcaino, Costanso, and others. Some of these are 
made public for the first time. 

Drake’s Discovery of the Port of New Albion on the 

Coast of California. 

“ ‘ The Maine Ocean by right is the Lord’s alone, and by nature 
left free for all men to deale withall, as very sufficient for all mens 
vse, and large enough for all mens industry. 

“ ‘ And therefore that valiant enterprize, accompanied with 
happy successe, which that right rare and thrice worthy Captaine, 
Francis Drake , atchieued, in first turning up a furrow about the 
whole world, doth not onely ouermatch the ancient Argonauts, but 
also outreacheth, in many respects that noble mariner Magellanus , 
and by farre surpasseth his crowned victory. But hereof let 
posterity judge.’f 

“ There is a glamour about the name of Sir Francis Drake. Suc¬ 
cess brought him the favour of Queen Elizabeth; his bravery, 


* Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, No. 61, p. 91. 

t Works issued by the Hakluyt Society. “The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, 
M.DCCC.LIV,” Page 6. 

“‘The World encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, being his next voyage to that to Nombre de 
Dios formerly imprinted; carefully collected out of the notes of Master Francis Fletcher, Preacher in 
his employment, and diuers others his followers in the same; offered now at last to publique view, both 
for the honour of the Actor, but especially for the stirring up of heroick spirits to benefit their 
Countrie, and eternize their names by like noble attempts. London: Printed for Nicholas Bovrne, 
and are to be sold at his shop at the Royall Exchange. 1628.’ 



6 


The Drake Medal 


vigor and self-assertion, conspicuous among many patriotic and 
fearless men at the destruction of the invincible Spanish Armada, 
made him a hero of the nation. 

“ He was not a discoverer in any honest acceptation of the word, 
but in the exigencies of his famous voyage he was the first European 
who saw the coast of Oregon and anchored under its shores; he 
was the first European who anchored in the bay since known by his 
name, where he refitted his ship, and took possession of New 
Albion. Californians have, therefore, a pardonable interest in 
knowing the exact geographical position of this landing. 

44 Francis Drake was the ‘ Captaine-general ’ of Freebooters; 
on the western coast of South America he ‘and his men pirates’* 

had loaded his vessel with a fabulous amount of fine wares from 

\ 

Asia, precious stones, church ornaments, gold, plate, ‘ and so 
mooch silver as did ballas the Goulden Hinde’.f 

“ He was magnificent in projecting great enterprises, persuasive 
in acquiring the means, self-contained and without shadow of fear, 
despotic in command, merciless in execution, full of resources; he 
was a born leader. 

“ The expedition of 1577-1580 to the South Sea was made up of 
‘gentlemen and saylars’,J drawn together by the love of adventure 
and plunder; 4 a sort of cogginge and lyinge knaves’,§ ‘a com- 
panye of desperate banckwrouptes that could not lyve in theyr 
countrye without the spoyle of that as others had gotten by the 
swete of theyr browes.’|| 

“ This ‘ hard crowd ’ needed a commander of unflinching deter¬ 
mination in emergencies, and they found one who, when they op¬ 
posed him, warned 4 them take hede for * * * yf I fynd them 

in my way I will surely synke them \^[ 

44 Nevertheless, with his surfeit of ‘eight hundred sixty sixe 
thousand pezos of silver, * * * a hundred thousand pezos of 

gold, * * * and other things of great worth ** this tyranous 

and cruell tirant ff thought it not good to returne by the 
(Magellan) streights * * * least the Spaniards should there 

waite, and attend for him in great numbers and strength, whose 
handes, he being left but one ship, could not possibly escape \\\ 


* Page 183. Appendix III. 

+ Page 182. Appendix III. 

X Page 213. Appendix IV. 

§ Page 169. Appendix I. 

II Page 207. Appendix IV. 

T Page 213. Appendix IV. 

** Page 291. Part V. Appendix V. 
++ Page 206. Appendix IV. 

XX Page 220. Part I. Appendix V. 



The Drake Medal. 


7 


“It was, therefore, absolutely necessary for him' to reach his 
own country by some unknown route, on which he would be unlikely 
to encounter any ship of the Spaniards. He had too much at stake 
to assume any risks of capture, and so, with superb self-confidence, 
he decided upon finding a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic 
by sailing to the northward and then to the eastward. He was in 
the entrance to the Bay of Panama pi the first week of March, 1579, 
after his rich capt-ure of the Cacafuego. 4 The time of the yeare 
now drew on wherein we must attempt, or of necessite wholly give 
ouer that action, which chiefly our Generali had determined, 
namely, the discouery of what passage there was to be found about 
the Northerne parts of America, from the South Sea, into our owne 
Ocean, * * * § * * which could not be done if the opportunity of 

time were now neglected; we therefore all of vs willingly harkened 
and consented to our Generalls aduice, which was, first to seeke 
out some conuenient place wherein to trimme our ship, and store 
ourselues with wood and water and other prouisions as we could 
get, and thenceforward to hasten on our intended iourney for the 
discouery of said passage, through which we might with joy returne 
to our longed homes 

“For more than two months he traversed unknown and track¬ 
less waters, with a self-reliance and a fearlessness that challenges 
the admiration of the seaman ; sailing more than a thousand leagues 
without seeing land. Nevertheless, courage could not conquer 
impossibilities; in latitude forty-two, when still steering into the 
unknown, he encountered the prevailing summer winds of the 
North Pacific. The cold was trying and disheartening to his men; 
the strong and pe rsis tent Northwesters, and the large sea therewith, 
and the impenetrable 4 most uile, thicke, and stinking fogges 'f 
soon convinced him of the unfeasibility of his search ; so * wee were 
forced by contrary windes to runne in with the shoare, which we 
then first descried, and to cast anchor in a bad bay, the best roade 
we could for the present meete with ’.J 

“ He anchored in the open roadstead off the mouth of the 
Chetko River, under the partial protection of Cape Ferrelo, in 
latitude 42 0 03'. Here ‘ the winds directly bent against vs, and 
hauing once gotten vs vnder sayle againe, commanded vs to the 
southward whether we would or no.’§ 


* Pages 111-112. 

+ Pages 115, 118. 

X Page 115. 

§ Page 115, 




8 


The Drake Medal. 


“ From this latitude of forty-two * * * § to ‘ 38 we found the land, by 
coasting alongst it, to be but low and reasonable plaine; euery 
hill (whereof we saw many, but none verie high) though it were in 
June , and the Sunne in his neerest approach vnto them, being 
couered with snow. 

“ ‘ In 38 deg. 30 min. we fell in with a conuenient and fit har- 
borough, and June 17 came to anchor therein, when we continued 
till the 23 day of July following.’ f 

“Another narrator gives a slightly different version: Drake 
‘ being afraid to spend long time in seeking for the straite, hee 
turned back againe, still keeping along the cost as near land as 
hee might, vntil hee came to 44 gr.,J and the hee found a har- 
borow for his ship, where hee grouded his ship to trim her.’ || 

“We have still another account of his reaching this anchorage. 

4 The fift day of June, being in fortie-three degrees towardes the 
pole Arcticke, being speedily come out of the extreame heate, wee 
founde the ayre so colde, that our men being pinched with the 
same, complayned of the extremitie thereof, and the further we 
went the more the colde increased upon us; whereupon we thought 
it best for that time to seeke land, and did so, finding it not moun¬ 
tainous, but low plaine land (and we drew backe againe without 
landing, till we came within thirty-eight degrees towardes the line. 
In which height, it pleased God to send us into a faire and good 
bay, with a good winde to enter the same.’§ 

“the names of drake’s ship; and the principal narrator 

OF THIS VOYAGE. 

“In the brief enumeration of the vessels which ‘ by gratious 
commission from his soueraigne, and the helpe of diuers friends 
avuenturers, he had fitted himselfe with fiue ships,’ we need men¬ 
tion only: 

“ I. The Pellican , admirall, burthen 100 tonnes, Captaine gen- 
erall Francis Drake.' 

“In the narrative of ‘the Elizabeth , vice-admirall, burthen 80 
tonnes, Captain John Winter’, ‘written by Edward Cliffe, mari¬ 
ner,’ the narrator describes Drake’s vessel as ‘ the Pellican, in 
burthen 120 tonnes, being admirall of the fleete ’. ** 

* The Narrative says 48, to which height he never reached. 

t Page 115. 

+ Page 184. Appendix III. This should be 38°; the narrator evidently confounds the Northern 
extreme, which one account claimed him to have reached, with the Southern anchorage in 38°. 

II Page 184. Appendix IV. 

§ Page 221. Part I, Appendix V. Page 243, Part II, Appendix V. 

IT Page 6. 

** Page 269. Part IV. Appendix V. 




The Drake Medal. 


9 


“ Throughout the Narratives we find the admiral’s name indif¬ 
ferently spelled Pellicane , Pelicane , Pellycan, and Pellycane. 

“ Drake’s ship did not, however, continue under her original 
name. When he made the eastern entrance to the Strait of Ma¬ 
gellan on the 20th of August, 1578, the narrator says: 

‘ At this cape ( Capo Virgin Maria ) our generall caused his fleet, 
in homage to our soueraigne lady, the Queenes Maiesty, to strike 
their top-sailes vpon the bunt, as a token of his willing and glad 
minde, to shewe his dutifull obedience to her highnes, whom he 
acknowledged to have full interest and right in that new discouery ; 
and withall, in remembrance of his honourable friend and fauorer, 
Sir Christopher Hattofi, he changed the name of the shippe which 
himselfe went in from the Pellican to be called the Golden Hinded * * * § 

“ The crest of Sir Christopher was £ a Hinde Statant or'; f and 
the Queen’s vice-chamberlain evidently had some stock in this 
piratical expedition, for Drake upon one occasion ‘ shewed also a 
byll of Master Hattons adventure. 

“ There were 164 men and boys in the five ships, but how many 
each vessel carried is not recorded. We are assured, however, 
that the ‘ admirall ’ carried a ‘ preacher and pastor of the fleet ’, § 
* one Ffrancis Ffletcher, Minister of Christ and Preacher of the 
Gospell, adventurer and traveller in the same voyage,|| although 
Drake on occasion did the preaching himself: ‘ Nay, softe, Master 
Fletchar (qd. he) I must preache this day my selfe, althowghe I 
have small skyll in preachinge.’ Drake even usurped the highest 
ecclesiastical authority, for once, after putting the parson in irons 
made fast to the forecastle, ‘ hee said, Francis Fletcher, I doo 
heere excomvnicate thee out of ye Church of God, and from all the 
benefites and graces thereof, and I denounce thee to the divell and 
all his angells’;^[ and around his neck he hung a placard with the 
suggestive legend: ‘ frances fletcher, ye falsest knave yt liveth.’** 

“extracts from the narratives describing the harbor in 

WHICH DRAKE ANCHORED. 

“The first published description of the bay in which Drake 
anchored, so far as I have learned, is found in the ‘ Arcano del 


* Page 71. 

t “ The Sea Fathers,” by Clements R. Markham, page 109. Cassell & Co., London, Paris and 
New York, 1884. 

X Page 216. Appendix IV. 

§ Page 212. Appendix IV. 

II Introduction, page XI. 

If Page 176. Appendix IV. 

** Page 177. Appendix IV. 




10 


The Drake Medal. 


Mare ’ * of Dudley, who, in describing the ‘ Carta Particolare, ’ No. 
XXXIII, says that ‘ the Port of New Albion in latitude thirty- 
eight degrees was discovered by Drake, the Englishman, in 1579 or 
thereabout; it is a place convenient to get fresh water and procure 
other necessaries. The said Drake found that the natives of the 
country were very well behaved and kind, and the land quite 
fruitful, and the weather temperate. They saw rabbits in great 
numbers, except that the tail was long like that of a rat, and with 
the greatest wonder they saw many native horses, which the 
Spaniards had never seen before in America ; and the reason 
why Drake sought and found this port was this, that having 
passed the true Cape Mendocino in latitude 42^2 to procure 
water, even from latitude 43%, he found the coast so very 
cold in the month of June that his people were not able to 
bear it, at which they marvelled much, the country being so 
much like that of Tuscany and Rome; therefore Drake found 
it expedient to return more towards the South-Southeast, even 
to 38° of latitude; and in seeking for water he discovered that 
port, and the country he had been the first to examine was 
named by him Nuoua Albion, in honor of his own country Eng¬ 
land, which was long before named Albion on account of the 
white cliffs; more than that the King of that country, of his 
own free will made himself and all his people tributary to the 
Crown of England.’ f 

“This description is meagre and somewhat unsatisfactory. 
Fortunately we can turn to the more detailed narrative of ‘The 
World Encompassed,’ with a feeling that the internal evidence 
points to the same original material for the descriptions. 

“I have already noted that Drake reached ‘a faire and good 
bay, with a good winde to enter the same,’ and anchored in this 
* conuenient and fit harborough ’ in latitude 38°. The many details 
of his dealings with the natives are not necessary to the present 
inquiry; but the following extracts, although they break the con¬ 
secutiveness of the narrative, are introduced as bearing upon 
certain physical conditions about the harbour, bay and adjacent 
islands. 

“ (P. n6.)J ‘Neither could we at anytime, in whole four- 


* “ Dell’ Arcano del Mare, di D. Rvberto Dvdleo Dvca di Northvmbria, e Conte di VVarvich, 
Libri Sei; * * * A 1 Serenissimo Ferdinando Secondo Gran Dvca di Toscana suo Signore, * * * In 
Firenze, Nella Stamperia di Francesco Onofri, 1646. Con licenza de’ SS. Superiori.” Royal folio, 3 
vols., 1630, 1646, 1647.” 

t The extract is from Part II, Vol. Ill, Book VI, page 58. The original text is given on page 50. 

X “ World Encompassed,” &c. 



The Drake Medal. 


11 


teene dayes together, find the aire so cleare to be able to take the 
height of sunne or starre.’* 

“(P- 117.) ‘Besides, how vnhandsome and deformed ap¬ 
peared the face of the earth itselfe! shewing trees without leaves, 
and the ground without greenness in those moneths of June and 
July , * * * and that the north and northwest winds are here 

constant in June and July, as the north wind alone is in August 
and September , we not onely found it by our owne experience, but 
were fully confirmed in the opinion thereof (p. 118) by the con¬ 
tinued obseruations of the Spaniards.’ 

“ (P. 120.) ‘ The 3 day following, uiz., the 21, our ship, having 

receiued a leake at sea, was brought to anchor neerer the shoare; 
that, her goods being landed, she might be repaired; but for that 
we were to preuent any danger that might chance against our 
safety, our Generali first of all landed his men, with all necessary 
prouision, to build tents and make a fort for the defense of our 
selues and goods; and that we might vnder the shelter of it with 
more safety (what euer should befall) end our businesse.’ 

“ (P. 122.) 4 And therefore with all expedition we set vp our 

tents and intrenched our selues with walls of stone; that being so 
fortified within our selues, we might be able to keep off the enemie 
(if they should prove so).’ 

“(P. 122.) ‘ When they (the Indians) came to the top of the hill, 

at the bottom whereof wee had built our fort, they made a stand.’ 

“ (P. 223. App. V, part I: part II, p. 243 ) ‘In the mean¬ 
time our Generali gathered his men together, and marched within 
his fenced place, making against their approaching a very warlike 
scheme. ’ 

“ (P. 223. App. V, part I: part II, p. 243 ) 4 In coming to¬ 

wards our bulwarks and tents; * * * (p. 224) the Generali per¬ 
mitted them to enter within our bulwarks.’ 

“ (P. 128.) ‘And so our Generali * * * gave orders that 
they might freely enter without interruption within our bulwarke.’ 

“ (P. 128 ) 4 They made signes to our Generali to have him 

sit down; * * * making signes that they would resign vnto him 
their right and title in the whole land and become his vassals in 
themselues and their posterities.’ 

44 (P. 129.) ‘Wherefore, in the name and to the vse of her 
most excellent maiesty, he took the scepter, crowne, and dignity 


* “ From July 2nd, 1859, the fog hung over the promontory of Point Reyes for thirty-nine consecu¬ 
tive days and nights. The sun was invisible for the first nine days, and on shore it was visible only 
at midday for the next thirty days, but the fog hung densely over the water.” 



12 


The Drake Medal. 


of the said countrie into his hand; wishing nothing more than 
that * * * the riches and treasures thereof (whereof in the vp- 
land countries it abounds) might with as great conuenience be 
transported, to the enriching of her kingdome at home.’ 

“ (P. 225. App. V, part I: App. V, part II, p. 243.) ‘ There 

is no part of earth here to bee taken up, wherein there is not some 
speciall likelihood of gold or siluer.’ 

“ (P. 131.) ‘ After that all our necessary businesses were well 

dispatched, our Generali, with his gentlemen and many of his com¬ 
pany, made a iourney vp into the land, * * * to be the better 
acquainted with the nature and commodities of the country. 5 

“ (P. 225. App. V, part I.) ‘Our necessarie businesse being 
ended, our Generali, with his companie, traueiled up into the 
Countery to the villages, where we found heardes of deere by a 
thousand in a companie, being most large and fat of body.’ 

“ (P. 132.) ‘The inland we found to be farre different from 
the shoare, a goodly country, and fruitful soyle, stored with many 
blessings fit for the use of man: infinite was the company of very 
large and fat Deere which there we sawe by thousands, as we sup¬ 
posed, in a heard.’ 

“ In the two narratives there is given a fair description of the 
gopher, except in regard to c his tayle, like tha tayle of a Rat ex¬ 
ceeding long.’ (P. 132, p. 223. App. V, part I.) 

“ (P. 132.) ‘ This country our Generali named Albion, and that 

for two causes; the one in respect to the white banckes and cliffes, 
which lie toward the sea; the other, that it might have some 
affinity, euen in name also, with our own country, which was some¬ 
times so called.’ 

“ (P. 225. App. V, part I: part II, p. 243.) ‘Our Generali 
called this countrey Noua Albion, and that for two causes: the one 
in respect of the white bankes and cliffes, which ly towardes the 
sea: and the other, because it might haue some affinitie with our 
own county in name, which sometime was so called.’ 

“ (P. 132.) ‘ Before we went from thence, our Generali caused 

to be set vp a monument of our being there.’ This statement and 
the details of the ceremony are repeated in two other places. 
(P. 225, App. V, part I: part II, p. 243.) 

“ (P. 132.) ‘ The Spaniards neuer had any dealings, or so much 

as set foote in this country, the vtmost of their discoueries reach¬ 
ing onely to many degrees Southward of this place.’ A similar 
statement is made in App. V, part I, p. 226; and in App. V, 
part II, p. 243. 


The Drake Medal. 


13 


“ (P- r 33-) ‘The 23 July they (the Indians) took a sorryful 
farewell of vs, but (p. 134) being loathe to leave vs, they pres¬ 
ently ranne to the top of the hils to keep vs in sight as long as they 
could, making fires before and behind, and on each side of them, 
burning therein sacrifices at our departure.’ 

“ (P. 134.) ‘Not farre without this harborough did lye cer- 
taine Hands (we called them the Hands of Saint Janies ), hauing on 
them plentifull and great store of Seales and birds, with one of 
which we found such prouision as might completely serue ourturne 
for a while. We departed againe the day following, viz., July 25. 
And our Generali now, considering the extremity of the cold, 
* * * and the wind blowing still (as it did at the first) from 
the Northwest, * * * bent his course directly to runne with the 
Hands of the Moluccas.’ 

“ P.- 243. App. V, part II.) ‘ After we had set saile from 
hence, 1 we continued without sight of land till the 13 day of Oc¬ 
tober following.’ 

“ The compiler of the Hero says somewhat more explicitly of 
the Farallones, ‘ Little without their Harbour lye certain Isles, 
and by them the Islands of St. James, wherein are plenty of Seals 
and Fowls, and landing on one of them next day, they supplied 
themselves with competent provision for some time.’* 

“ As bearing upon the depth of water in this harbor of Drake, 
and whether he could careen his ship there, I make other extracts 
from his narrative. When his vessel was on the rock, on the 10th 
of January, 1580, ‘ In 2 degrees lacking three or four minutes South 
Latitude,’ he remarks (p. 156), ‘our ship, who required thirteen 
foot water to make her fleet * * * , fell a heeling towards the 
deepe water, and by that meanes freed her keele, and made vs glad 
*hen. ’f 

“ Moreover, he was accustomed to the use of seal meat for 
food (p. 39): In this ‘commodious harbor * * we killed diuers 
Seals, or Sea Wolves (as the Spaniard calls them), which resorted 
to these rocks in great abundance. They are good meat, and are 
an acceptable food for vs for the present, and a good supply of 
our prouision for the future,, (p. 275, App. V, part IV); North of 
the Rio Plata in a ‘deepe bay ’ * * * * wee killed some seales.’ 

“ In Drake’s Bay he gave the Indians (p. 131) ‘such victuals 
as we had prouided for our selues, as Muscles, Seales, and such 
like.’ 

* “ The English Hero: or, Sir Francis Drake Reviv’d,” etc., the Twelfth Edition, 1739, p. 129. 

t “ The World Encompassed,” &c. 




14 


The Drake Medal. 


The foregoing passages are quoted verbatim from the opening 
pages, following which the greater part of Prof. Davidson’s paper 
is devoted to the setting forth and discussion of a multitude of 
details, concerning the name and latitude of Drake’s anchorage, 
the description of various ancient charts consulted, together with 
other pertinent matters, and a conclusive statement of reasons 
why Drake did not land elsewhere and why he could not have an¬ 
chored in San Francisco Bay. 

From these data it appears that “ In the marginal plan of the 
anchorage of Drake on the Map of the World, by Hondius (Hague? 
1 595?) we first find the name Portus Novae Albionis,” which, in 
variously modified forms reappears in many later charts as the 
descriptive name of the bay or port, in latitude 38°, within the 
protecting headlands of Point Reyes, where Drake first landed and 
called the country “New Albion.” 

“ Porto di Nona Albion” “ Po . de los Reyes," “El Puerto de San 
Francisco," “Porto Sir Fra?icis Drake," “ Porto St. Francis Drake , 
wrongly named Port St. San Francisco , ” “ P. S. F. Drake" “La 
Bahia de San Francisco , ” with other variations, all referring to the 
bay at Point Reyes, in or near latitude 38°, and none referring in 
any sense to the present Bay of San Francisco, are also described 
with abundant detail. 

After 1603 this name San Francisco was generally substituted 
for that of New Albion among the Spanish navigators, and in 1734 
it is described by Don Joseph Gonzales Cabrera Bueno, in his 
“ Coast Pilot,” published in Manila.* He says the port was a good 
shelter from all winds, and that during southeast storms vessels 
must anchor in the southwest angle of the bay. He states that it 
is on the north side of Point Reyes, yet overlooks the very essen¬ 
tial fact that it is on the north side of the eastern promontory of 
the Head. He placed it in latitude 38^4°. 

It further appears that the present Bay of San Francisco was 
discovered in 1769 (190 years after Drake’s Bay) by Don Gaspar 
de Portola, commanding the land expedition from San Diego, to 
rediscover Vizcaino’s “ famous Harbour ” of Monterey.' His engi¬ 
neer was Costanso, who published in 1770 his chart, whereon he 
places the old port of San Francisco (referring to Drake’s Bay) 
and also the new port (referring to the present Bay) which he is 

* “ Admiral Cabrera compiled his Coast Pilot, for he was never upon this Coast, and it is a 
noteworthy fact that all his latitudes, from Cape Mendocino southward, are half a degree or 
more too large, viz.: Point Arena, Point Reyes, Point Ano Nuevo, and Point Pinos. This 
correction, applied to the Puerto de San Francisco, would place it in latitude 38°.” 





The Drake Medal. 


15 


the first to name the “ Estero de San Francisco.” Referring to 
this work Professor Davidson writes: 

“ The Costanso Chart of ifjo. 

“In the chart of California by the Engineer of Portola’s expe¬ 
dition, I find the graphical demonstration of his descriptive report 
of the exploration of 1769, when, on the 31st of October, from the 
mountains behind San Pedro Cove, he discovered the ‘ Farallones 
de la Bahia de San Francisco,’ and Point Reyes, which he esti¬ 
mated to be in latitude 37 0 45', although he was then in 37 0 31'. 
But from the same point of view he discovered to the eastward, 
inside the coast range of mountains, a great gulf forming a medi¬ 
terranean sea, with an arm connecting it with the ocean. This was 
the present Bay of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. Costanso 
has laid down the old puerto of similar shape to the Portus of 
Hondius, the B: di noua Albion of Dudley, and nearly the Puerto 
de los Reyes of Vizcaino: while immediately under it is the entrance 
to the 4 Estero de S. Francisco,’ with one great arm reaching twenty 
miles to the northeast, and a second great arm reaching twenty- 
five miles to the southeast. Off the entrance to this Estero lie Los 
Farallones, visible also from the Pto de S. Francisco. The name 
Pta de los Reyes is applied opposite the iong promontory forming 
the southern side of Drake’s Bay. 

“True to his instincts as an engineer, Costanso, has given no 
details to the northward. He had been sent to rediscover Viz¬ 
caino’s ‘famous harbour of Monterey,’ and in the search made this 
remarkable discovery of the Bay of San Francisco. In the southern 
parts of the coast and immediately approaching San Francisco, he 
says in the title that he had the use of the diaries of different pilots, 
but especially those of the ‘Paquetbote el S. Antonio, ’ which arrived 
at Monterey May 31,1770, and made a special expedition to ‘el Puerto 
de S. Francisco occupado ahora de nuevo por los nuestros.’ 

“ Costanso’s work was remarkably good: his latitudes from San 
Diego to Pillar Point are always within a minute of arc of the 
modern determinations; and hence we are safe in placing great 
reliance on his words and his graphical illustrations of them. These 
incontestably establish the old port of San Francisco to be that of 
Sir Francis Drake, and totally distinct from the Estero or Puerto 
de San Francisco. 

“This chart and the preceding one are the connecting links 
between Drake and the later navigators, and they alone would 
establish the ‘fit and convenient harbour’ in which the Golden Hinde 
anchored, were there no other evidence. 


16 


The Drake Medal. 


“ The difference between the old port and the new port is empha¬ 
sized by the statement of Rev. Edward Everett Hale, that a con¬ 
temporary manuscript account of Costanso’s discovery, preserved 
in the British Museum, records the principal features of the new dis¬ 
covery as follows: ‘They say it is the best bay they have discov¬ 
ered; and while it might shelter all the navies in Europe, it is 
entered by a straight of three leagues, and surrounded with moun¬ 
tains, which make the waters tranquil.’* This applies to San 
Francisco Bay, and it does not apply to Drake’s anchorage.” 

Finally, in a very full and comprehensive paper, entitled “ The 
Discovery of San Francisco Bay,” recently published (May, 1907) 
by the Geographical Society of the Pacific, Professor Davidson 
has put on record the most minute details of his investigation of 
the many questions concerning that event, showing conclusively 
(1) that the first discovery by Europeans of San Francisco Bay was 
made, as already herein set forth, by Portola’s land expedition, 
approaching from the south, in 1769, and in a reconnaissance 
around the southeast head of the bay, in the Santa Clara Valley, 
lying to the east of the coast range of mountains, many miles from 
the sea and the entrance therefrom, now known as the “ Golden 
Gate”; (2) that there is no record of any European having ever 
seen the Entrance from the Sea into the Bay of San Francisco, 
prior to 1772; and (3) that The San Carlos was the first known 
vessel to enter the Golden Gate, which event occurred on August 
5th, 1775, Httle more than 196 years after the departure of Drake 
from his landing place and Port, near Point Reyes, now known as 
Drake’s Bay. 

Sir Francis Drake’s visit on the California coast in June, 1579, 
was incidentally the occasion of a memorable event, especially 
interesting for the records of Church History, when Francis 
Fletcher, Drake’s chaplain, is said to have held a religious service 
on the shore, in the presence of the ship’s company and the 
assembled natives, which is generally believed to have been the 
first use of the Book of Common Prayer in our country. 

The Rt. Rev. William Ford Nichols, Bishop of California, be¬ 
came actively interested, some years ago, in a project to fitly mark 
by a suitable monument, the landing place of Drake, on the shore 
of California, and thus, by the same token, establish a Memorial of 
the first Church service held in the English tongue on the Pacific 
coast. In a very interesting paper contributed to Harper s Weekly , 
January 13th, 1894, entitled “A Bit of Elizabethan California,” 


* “ Narrative and Critical History of America,” etc. Vol. Ill, pages 75-76. 




The Drake Medal. 


17 


after noting the fact that “ Some eleven centuries before it was 
called England, the country of the white cliffs was named Albion: 
and a generation before there was a New England on the Atlantic, 
there was a New Albion on the Pacific Coast of the New World,” 
Bishop Nichols wrote: “ Not to speak of the works of the Hakluyt 
Society and the older accounts of the voyage, the editor of “ The 
History of the American Episcopal Church, Bishop Perry, called 
attention to the fact that to Francis Fletcher, Drake’s chaplain, 
belongs the honour of being the first in English orders who minis¬ 
tered the Word and Sacraments within the territory of the United 
States,” and that at Drake’s landing place “the words of the 
Common Prayer were first heard on the Pacific Coast.” 

The long-cherished purpose of erecting such a Memorial was 
ultimately accomplished through the generosity of Mr. George W. 
Childs, of Philadelphia, by whose gift a stately monument, known 
as the “ Prayer Book Cross,” was established and dedicated, 
January ist, 1894, not- at Drake’s landing-place, as first proposed, 
where, by the configuration of the coast, it would be concealed 
from distant view and very rarely seen, but on a well-chosen site 
in Golden Gate Park, near San Francisco, between the city and the 
ocean shore, at an elevation of 300 feet, or more, above the sea. 

The monument is a great gray-stone Celtic cross, with base of 
15 by 17 feet and 6 feet high, from which the Cross rises to a 
height of 55 feet above the ground, with shaft 8 by 6 feet, the arms 
being 21 feet across, all of stone. 

The Cross bears the following inscriptions: 

“ A Memorial of the service held on the shore of Drake's Bay, 
about St. John Baptist’s Day, June 24, A. D. 1579, by Francis 
Fletcher, Priest of the Church of England, Chaplain of Sir Francis 
Drake, Chronicler of the Service.” 

(On the Reverse) 

“ First Christian Service in the English tongue on our coast. 

“ First use of Book of Common Prayer in our country. 

“ One of the first recorded Missionary Prayers on our continent. 

“ Soli Deo sit semper Gloria.” 

(On Base Front) 

“ Gift of George W. Childs, Esq., of Philadelphia.” 

The following extract from the “World Encompassed” more 
especially bears upon the points covered in the inscription, giving 


18 


The Drake Medal. 


an account of the service held, and making record of the words of 
the very early American missionary prayer: 

“ Our Generali, with his companie, in the presence of those 
strangers, fell to prayers; and by signes, in lifting up our eyes and 
hands to heaven, signified unto them that that God whom we did 
serve, and whom they ought to worship, was above: beseeching 
God, if it were his good pleasure, to open by some meanes their 
blinded eyes, that they might in due time be called to the knowl¬ 
edge of him, the true and everliving God, and of Jesus Christ 
whom he hath sent, the salvation of the Gentiles. In the time of 
which prayers, singing of Psalmes, and reading of certaine chapters 
of the Bible, they sate very attentively.” 

The Golden Hi 7 ide completed her “ world-encompassing ” voyage 
when she returned to England and came to anchor in Plymouth 
Sound, September 26th, 1580. The event was celebrated, far and 
wide, with great rejoicing and festivities, which culminated, six 
months later, in the visit of Queen Elizabeth, who went in state to 
dine on the famous ship, at Deptford, on April 4th, 1581, on which 
occasion, after the banquet, she bade Drake fall to his knees and 
conferred upon him the honour of knighthood. 

The Golden Hinde was kept as a public relic until the ship fell 
into decay, when a stately memorial chair was made from her tim¬ 
bers and presented by Charles II. to the University of Oxford, 
where it can now be seen in the Bodleian Library. . 

The Drake Medal, issued by the American Numismatic Society, 
presents a bust portrait of Sir Francis which the artist, Profes¬ 
sor Rudolph Marschall, of Vienna, Royal Medallist to the Court 
of Austria, with the aid of photographic copies taken specially for 
this work, by the courtesy of Lady Drake, has produced from an 
oil painting from life by Abraham Janssens, continuously in the 
possession of the family and now at Buckland Abbey, Devonshire, 
England. 

The reverse of this medal is a reproduction,* as a partial fac¬ 
simile , of one side (the Western or Pacific Hemisphere) of the cele¬ 
brated Silver Medal or “ Map of the World,” which is generally 
believed to have been made shortly, or, in any event, within a few 
years, after Drake’s return from his “world-encompassing” expe¬ 
dition, and concerning which the late Sir John Evans, calling the 
attention of the Royal Numismatic Society to this interesting 


* Professor Marschall undertook this work upon the understanding that historical accuracy should 
dominate artistic sentiment in his design. 




The Drake Medal. 


19 


memorial,* said: “Of all the medals of the British series there is, 
perhaps, none of greater interest to the English-speaking people 
on both sides of the Atlantic than that commemorating the voyage 
of Sir Francis Drake ’round the world, which he completed in the 
year 1580.” 

This medal is a thin circular plate of silver, nearly three (2.8) 
inches in diameter, stamped in imitation of engraving, showing on 
each of its two opposite sides an outline map, one of the Eastern, 
and the other of the Western, Hemisphere, designed to represent 
the known facts or the prevailing ideas of the geography of the 
world at that period. A dotted line indicates, with more or less preci¬ 
sion, the circumnavigator’s sailing track. Besides inscriptions of the 
dates of Drake’s departure, in 1577, and of his return, in 1580, the 
maps bear numerous other legends and, in addition thereto, not 
less than no geographical names, 67 on the Eastern, and 43 on the 
Western, Hemisphere. 

Many of these names, dates and legends are naturally without 
any significant relation to Drake’s circumnavigating expedition, 
and, as there is no specific name or date on the map to indicate the 
identity of the engraver, or his object, or the date of its origin, 
these matters still remain conjectural and open to question. It is 
the judgment of Professor Davidson, who has carefully considered 
all the evidences, that the Silver Map was commemorative, not 
alone of Drake’s exploits of 1577-80, but also of the achievements of 
Cabot and Frobisher, and, generally, of the Discoveries of the 
English from 1497 to 1586 or later, and that it was made after 
1588. 

In a recently published paper f Professor Davidson writes: “As 
to the date of the production of the plaque of the Silver Map and 
the sources of information for its construction, we surmise that it 
was drawn from material then in possession of Jodocus Hondius,J 
and which embraced the discoveries of Drake and of Cavendish, 
who had returned to Plymouth in September, 1588. 

“It seems probable that it was executed by Hondius himself 
as a token of thanks to those who had assisted him in gathering 
materials for his coming map; and that the date may be even as 


* Published in the “Numismatic Chronicle,’’ Fourth Series, Vol. VI. 

t Francis Drake on the Northwest coast of America in the year 1579, by George Davidson, Presi¬ 
dent Geographical Society of the Pacific. Extracted from the Transactions and Proceedings of the 
Society and ordered to be printed by the Council, February 29, 1908. 

X Jodocus Hondius (Joos de Hondt), a Hollander, settled in London as a cartographer and engraver. 
He engraved the chart of the two hemispheres (1595?) now in the British Museum on which is the state¬ 
ment over New Albion that Drake reached the latitude of 42 0 . (Jodocus went to England in 1583; 
married in London 1587, and returned to the Low Countries in 1594. Christy.) 


) 

> 


> > » 


) > 
) * > 



20 


The Drake Medal. 


late as 1594, when he was leaving England ; and, moreover, that 
very few specimens were made. 

Mr. Miller Christy, of London, who published, in 1900, an 
interesting volume concerning this medallion,* says: “Only 
three £ copies ’ or examples of it are known to existf—each of them 
identically the same in all but the most trivial respects.” They 
differ somewhat in thickness and weight, the lightest weighing 260, 
the second, 300.6, and the heaviest, 424 grains troy. The first two 
mentioned are in the British Museum; the third now belongs to 
Sir John Evans. 

Mr. Edward D. Adams, Chairman of the Medal Committee of 
the American Numismatic Society, obtained, several years ago, an 
electrotype copy of one of the examples in the British Museum, 
from which has been produced the facsimile that forms the reverse 
of the Drake Medal, recently issued by the above-named society. 

An interesting .feature of this very ancient medal map is the 
apparent indication of what may have been a formerly existing in¬ 
land sea, within the region where, some centuries ago, the Gulf of 
California extended to a point about 150 miles northwestward from 
its present head, thus covering the same depressed area of land 
where to-day, by the accidental inletting of the Colorado River, 
there has recently been formed the so-called “ Salton Sea,” of 
which the upper surface is about 200, and the extreme depth, or 
bottom of the basin, is nearly 300, feet below sea-level. 

This topographical feature of the Silver Map clearly suggests 
the possibility, if it does not certainly indicate the probability, that 
at the time when the map was made there was still an open chan¬ 
nel between and connecting the slowly vanishing inland sea and 
the head of the Gulf of California, which was gradually being shut 
out by the accumulating delta of the Colorado River. 

If this channel were still open 370 years ago, when the early 
Spanish navigators were already exploring that region, it might 
easily have happened that some Spanish craft, older than the 
Golden Hinde , entered the inland basin, to be finally stranded there, 
in the sands of the desert, thus verifying the somewhat mythical 
stories that have long since been current in that desolate waste, 

*“ The Silver Map of Drake’s Voyage, 1577-1580.” By Miller Christy, London : Henry Stevens, 
Son, and Stiles, 39 Russell Street, iqoo. 

+ Referring to the number of copies now extant, Lady Elliott Drake, writing from Nutwell Court, 
Lympstone, Devon, to the Chairman of the Committee on the Publication of Medals for the 
American Numismatic Society, says: “ With regard to the ‘ Silver Map ’ which is so interestingly re¬ 
produced on the reverse of the plaque, I think that you will like to know that four exist—those you 
mention and one here. It is in a little old black shagreen case, just as the first Sir Francis had it— 
carried it about in his pocket maybe—to show to curious questioners where his ship had sailed.” 




The Drake Medal. 


21 


reporting the finding of the remains of an ancient vessel in the 
dried-out bottom of an evaporated sea. 

It is also historically interesting to note the early appearance 
and lasting permanence of certain geographical names, such as 
California, Florida, Virginia, and others, remarking especially 
“Bacallaos,” which is Spanish for Cod, a characteristic native of 
the New England coast. 

A further noteworthy instance of persistent nomenclature is that 
of a small, remotely isolated rock, in the North Pacific Ocean, far 
off the west coast of Mexico, shown on the Silver Map as the 
“ Rocca Partida,” by which name it is referred to by Spanish navi¬ 
gators of still earlier date, and likewise appears on our charts of 
the present day. 

The “ Rocca Partida ” is thus significantly related to that vast, 
deep, still uncharted and more or less mysterious region, reaching 
many hundred miles yet farther west, towards Hawaii, which, if it 
contain no island, is probably the largest landless ocean area on 
the surface of the globe, whence, during the past century, the 
cruising whalemen and rarely passing navigators have brought re¬ 
ports of shoals, reefs and plainly visible islands, none of which, by 
some mischance, has ever yet been found by any of the exploring 
vessels of Great Britain or the United States, sent, during the past 
eighty years, to look for th£m. Yet Villalobos, in the record of 
his voyage in 1542, under date of December 3rd, says: “and we' 
sailed beyond Rocca Partida about two hundred leagues, when we 
had soundings in seven fathoms.” It was somewhere in this remote 
region that, sailing from Hawaii to Panama, in September or Octo¬ 
ber, i860, the U. S. S. Levant mysteriously disappeared, leaving no 
trace, unless it be in certain wreckage, found nine months there¬ 
after on the south shore of Hawaii, and then and there identified as 
a lower mast and piece of a lower yard of the missing Levant; and it 
may be that on some habitable island, somewhere within the region 
thus indicated by the “ Rocca Partida,” some of her surviving ship¬ 
wrecked castaways may still be watching for a sail. 


. 





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Reproduced for the American Geographical Society, August i, 1908, by permission of the California Historical Society. 








































































































Reproduced for the American Geographical Society, August i, 1908, by permission of the California Historical Society. 





























































































































































Reproduced for the American Geographical Society, August i, 1908, by permission of the California Historical Society. 


































































































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